Thursday, October 12, 2017

This is a smaller version of the 10 minute table runner called Skinny Minnie Table Runner. I bought this kit at Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe in Jacksonville FL on our way to Florida.

It went together so quickly. It took about a half hour to sew it up. There is no batting. You could piece some blocks into a row and finish it the same way. You can also embellish it as you like. I have 1 button at each end on the flap. It came with fabric to make yo yo's and the buttons, but I decided just to use the buttons.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Today is show & tell day for the Christmas Caroling Row A Long. A number of the participating designers used some of the rows that you have seen and put them together in clever ways to share even more inspiring projects for you!

Three more blocks done for Grandma's Kitchen! Block 9 The Kitchen Window, Block 10 Recipe Box and Block 11 Peppermint Swirls. The kitchen window looked out into the backyard and the side yard. There were always flowers around, so I used a floral fabric for the windows. I don't remember my Grandma having a recipe box, but my Mom did. The recipe box was floral with stripes, but in blues and yellows. The light floral print is blue flowers, although the rest is not. I remember my Great Grandma having a candy dish, which was a glass chicken sitting on the nest. I loved that thing! However, I do not remember what candy was in it! :-) I made my candy into flowers since I know that my Great Grandma, Grandma and Mom loved flowers. I did use one of my Mom's old buttons for the center of one of the flowers.

Friday, September 15, 2017

I just finished making a project bag and a matching small pouch. I saw on many knitting podcasts that they used these project bags for their knitting. I really liked them and thought that they would be good for both knitting and sewing or whatever you can think of to use them for.

I like that you can fold it down, since it is a soft bag, and it makes it like a bucket and easier to have your yarn accessible to knit with.

I added a pocket to my lining in the large bag and decided to fully line the smaller pouch, with no raw seams exposed. (Yes, sometimes I get a little crazy 😁) I didn't quite have enough fabric for the lining, so I added a little bit of the contrast fabric to make it work.

I quilted both bags using the serpentine stitch and did part grid and part straight lines on the larger bag and a full grid on the smaller pouch. I like the look of this stitch, versus a straight stitch, since it adds some softness to the look.

I checked out many videos of how to's to make this on youtube and I really liked this one by Erica Arndt:

https://youtu.be/VbzEAweKAyM

I did a few modifications to it for my use, but the basic technique is hers.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

I hope that you are having a great time doing the Christmas Caroling Row Along Blog Hop!
Thank you Marian Pena of Seams to be Sew for hosting the hop and for all the work that you have done! Thank you also to Northcott Fabrics for the lovely fabric that you have donated to us to use in our rows.

I chose the Christmas Carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" for my row. I really loved the chorus - "O Tidings of Comfort and Joy". In doing research for the Christmas Carol, I found this fifth verse from 1775 which I really liked.

Now to the Lord sing praises,

All you within this place

Like we true loving brethren,

Each other to embrace,

For the merry time of Christmas

Is coming on a-pace.

I pictured Victorian carolers gathering in town singing and spreading love to all who heard them.

I usually use Electric Quilt to do my designing. This is the first time that I created appliques using this program. It was both challenging and fun for me. I hope that you like it. I did this row using fusible applique, but you could also do it with hand applique or whatever is your favorite method. I wanted to add some architectural detail to the houses, so I used some of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine. I added a feather stitch to my holly leaves and hand embroidered a wreath on one of the front doors. You can have a lot of fun just deciding exactly how you would like to finish this row. Keep it simple or go wild!

I decided that I would like to finish this row as a wall hanging and put a border on it that kind of looked like a frame, but still keeping a little Victorian feel to it. This is what I came up with.

This is a real easy border to do. It just uses squares and rectangles. I have included this finished border instructions in my pattern.

This is the fabric that I got from Northcott. The red, green and white were from the Toscana line. 9020-26, 9020-781 &9020-10. The wood grain looking fabric was from Hurry Up Santa 21712-11.
My background was also a Northcott, but it was from last year. They have one with the same print, but a different blue from the Magic of Christmas 21701-44 which would work well.

Friday, September 1, 2017

I finished two more blocks for my Grandma's Kitchen quilt that is designed by Pat Sloan. The first one is Oh My Stars! which is supposed to represent a saying that my Grandma used to say. I don't remember my Grandma or Mom having any particular saying. When my children were growing up, I used to say "cheese and crackers!", which is better than what I say now! 😊

Oh My Stars

The second block is Grandma's Apron. I don't really remember my Grandma or Mom wearing an apron, so I chose colors that I thought they would like. The apron was to be done as a fusible applique, but I decided to needle turn it. The heart was a little challenging since it is only a half inch in size. I thank Sarah Fielke for her wonderful needle turn instructions!

Grandma's Apron

Below is a picture of all of my blocks so far. They consist of both 5" and 6" blocks. Pat's directions are for 10" and 12" blocks, but I shrunk mine. It will be interesting to see how she puts them together when we have finished the 25 blocks that make up the Grandma's Kitchen Quilt.

All of my blocks so far!

I hope you get a chance to do spend some time with loved ones and do some things that you enjoy on this long Labor Day weekend!

Thursday, August 24, 2017

I started sewing blocks for the Pat Sloan Grandma's Kitchen Challenge. This is a block of the week. A new block comes out every Wed. There will be 25 blocks in all. Block 9 just came out. I am a little behind and have gotten 6 blocks finished so far.

I am making this
quilt in honor of my Mother who passed away 5 years ago.My Mother loved flowers, birds and quilting.
I thought I would use florals in some of her favorite colors.

As I am sewing this, I also remember my
maternal Grandmother and Great Grandmother.
I spent many wonderful family gatherings at my Grandmother's house and
my Great Grandmother lived next door.
She had the glass chicken sitting on a nest candy dishes. I always got a
treat from them. Maybe that's why I love
those dishes today.

Thank you Pat for
this inspirational quilt along. It will
be a very special quilt for me.

If you would like more info on this block of week, you will find it here.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

I am so excited to announce that I was asked to design a row for the Christmas Caroling Row Along!

This will be a blog hop featuring different designers offering a free pattern for a row based on a Christmas Carol. My Christmas Carol is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Here is a small preview of my row!

Northcott Fabrics generously donated fabric to each designer to use in their row.

Thank you Northcott!

The Christmas Caroling RAL Blog Hop starts Sept. 5, 2017 and ends October 10, 2017. There will be 42 bloggers featured. Besides receiving a free pattern for their row, you will also be eligible for many giveaways! This blog hop is being hosted by www.seamstobesew.com

You can get more info on this blog hop by clicking on the Christmas Caroling RAL Logo on the side of my blog!

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

While I was working on my Happy Days BOM by Sarah Fielke, I saw that she had posted about using a Lap App for applique. I had never heard of it. I did a little research online and decided to get one.

I love it! It is made from wood and is adjustable both in height and angle. It comes with a piece of sandpaper attached to the top for ease in tracing your shapes on to your fabric for applique. The padded fabric cover has a pocket to put your scissors into or whatever you prefer. It also comes with an ironing cover. On the base there are three posts perfect for holding your thread, and a small magnet to hold your needle.

It is comfortable to use and works so well for applique. I think that it would also work well for english paper piecing or anything else that you are more comfortable resting your arms on. I bought mine on Amazon through the Lap App company, but there are other places available. Sarah Fielke also sells them on her website here. You just need to do a search and you will find them.

Friday, June 2, 2017

It has been quite a while since I have blogged, which I am sure you have noticed. :-) We moved last year and have been off on new adventures.

As far as sewing goes this past year, I have mainly been working on Sarah Fielke's Happy Days BOM 2016. This quilt features a lot of applique, some pieced and some paper pieced blocks. One thing that I decided that I really wanted to do this year is to try some things that I would not normally do. One of them was needle turn applique. I tried it many years ago, but decided it wasn't for me. However, since working on this quilt and following Sarah's wonderful instructions and videos - I am HOOKED! I love it!

I still don't have the quilt totally finished, but I thought that i would share some pics. This one shows what the layout of the center of the quilt will look like. I have 2 applique blocks to finish for the bottom yet.

This is a close up of the blocks that I started with.

Here are a few of my favorites!

I never in a million years thought that I could applique this block! But I did it! Love it!

I have found hand applique to be so relaxing and now look forward to just sitting and stitching. If you would like more info on this bom, you can find it here. Sarah also has a new BOM for this year called Down the Rabbit Hole. You can find info at that same link. Of course, I signed up for that one too! I haven't started it yet, other than picking out some fabric. It is now officially on my list!